Cleansing the World

This world can be a hot mess. We, humans, like to ensure that. We fight wars between nations over land and money. We fight wars inside our own countries through slandering tweets, racist, sexist, homophobic, or other discriminatory comments. We continuously invade and destroy habitats that aren’t our own. We pump chemicals into the air and sky of our cities and towns. We fill our oceans with all of our excess waste, killing the creatures that live there in the process. We oftentimes forget that we are animals and like all other animals, we evolved and just like any other, can be destroyed.

In history, there is an obvious pattern of the planet putting us back in our place when we’ve become too big for our britches. In 165 A.D. the Huns and the Roman Empire became overwhelmingly powerful until they were brutally shoved off their pedestal by Mother Earth. They experienced the Antonine Plague which decimated populations. However, we humans were young and strong so we got back up and continued developing and growing until the next time we stepped onto that pedestal.

In the 1300s, a war across Europe and the Middle East called the Crusades occurred. During this, our egocentric ways were buried by the deaths of millions of people from the Bubonic Plague. Society underwent many changes after this brutal downfall and defeat by Mother Nature.

We eventually began bolstering ourselves up as high and mighty during the first industrial revolution, so our planet did not disappoint and brought us crumbling down with the First Cholera Pandemic of 1817.

When we decided to fight a brutal worldwide war in the 1900’s to prove our power as humans and technology, Mother Earth showed us her own strength by sending the Spanish Flu of 1918 to knock the ego of humans down a few notches.

And now, here we are facing up against Mother Nature yet again. We have spent the last century developing nuclear weapons, polluting so much that grey skies seem normal, cutting down rain forests, and melting our polar icecaps. A punch straight to the gut was inevitable for the human race.

In 2019 and 2020 the Corona Virus (COVID-19) has become a pandemic that has already and is continuing to change our world. It has forced society to remember basic hygiene practices. It has shown us what less pollution can do to the world, through the clear skies of China and the dolphins swimming in Italian canals. It has brought together communities by everyone trying to help and protect each other.

Here at Warren, teachers have offered to bring books, groceries, and anything else to families in need of help. Students have taken to posting videos of their own special talents to bring joy, hope, and a sense of connection to those around them.

Although this pandemic is causing pain to many people and places, it is also Mother Nature’s way of cleansing the world and reminding us what’s truly important and where our place in the world is.